Perennial underdog status due to being overshadowed by blue blooded elitists living in yesteryear?

Check.

Having to work harder than everyone else due to inherent challenges related to previously noted item?

Check.

Winning three Big Ten Championships, winning the Rose Bowl, winning the Cotton Bowl, reaching the College Football Playoff, completely dominating in-state rival in every measurable way yet STILL being viewed as a “less than” program by people who are ignorant?

Check.

Having a head coach who has won and won and won and won and won and has dispatched all rivals and led his program with integrity along with instilling a work ethic that manifests itself on the field through toughness, discipline, relentless effort, resiliency, and results yet people still mispronounce and misspell that head coach’s name?

Check.

Having your school located in the quintessentially magnificent college town, East Lansing, yet people consistently making the moronic mistake of referring to the school’s town as “Lansing” which is comparable to referring to St Louis as Port St Luice?

Check.

If you’re a person who somehow got lost and wound up at this website, have become intrigued with the Michigan State thing that you’re sensing here, and you’re looking for a final, tangible thing to grab a hold of and accept the Spartans as a team to pull for, maybe this quick clip might get you to the finish line –

The program has to find the extra inches in ways that its rivals think aren’t as important as natural skill.

The program has to do the little things all year round in order to find the ways to win games when the odds don’t appear to be in its favor and the opposing team’s punter simply needs to collect the snap and punt the football.

The program has to have players who like being with each other and pull for one another on hot summer mornings in the weight room.

And the program has all of these ingredients and does all of these things.